Privacy – It’s About the Strategy, Not the Settings!

What would happen if one of your staff members were to put an incriminating photograph or status on their Facebook profile, which wasn’t an appropriate representation of how they are in the workplace, and a patient were to see it?

1) They may just see your practice in a more negative light and stop referring you to friends and family.

2) They may leave your practice.

3) They may spread the word to other patients of your practice and encourage them to leave too.

It’s becoming ever more important to not just rely on the standard privacy features of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, but to be proactive in thinking of a privacy strategy to take control of who sees what on your social media profile.

That’s why we’ve come up with some tips, for you to share with your team, on how to create an online privacy strategy which could help to avoid the pitfalls of life with less online privacy.

#1. Showcase the best bits

If you’re going to let people know more about you, then make sure you give off the right impression by showcasing only the best bits – share the things that you’re most passionate about, whether it’s people, hobbies, creations, etc.

The majority of people use social media as a place to share and discuss the things that they’re interested in with people who have similar interests.

This leads us on to the next point…

#2. Network with the right people in the right places

Regardless of what you’re talking about, there is always someone out there who will be interested in it.

Being proactive about sharing your thoughts and opinions on subjects you’re passionate about is a great way to boost your online reputation! (You never know, it may come in handy when you’re least expecting it.)

#3. Never rely on privacy settings

Privacy settings get changed just as often as Facebook updates its layout, and they’re never foolproof.

All it takes is a wayward friend on your ‘private’ Facebook profile to share or download your content and before you know it you could be in a Buzzfeed gif. Likewise with Twitter, you can protect your tweets, but should you let people you don’t know follow you? Anything could happen; a little bit of vigilance over who you’re interacting with and what you’re sharing is always called for.

#4. It’s anonymous! Or is it?

Don’t believe that your profiles are ever totally anonymous or protected. In fact, we recommend that whenever you’re coming up with content, always treat it as though it’s going to be released to the public – it’s happened a few times now where so-called anonymous Twitter accounts have eventually been exposed to the public.

Overall, social media is one place where there’s always going to be a loss of privacy but you do have control over your online profile. Be selective over what you share and always draw attention to only the best parts – after all, you want peace of mind that people won’t find out the worst.